Did your Dad own a cool car?

My dad recently gave me a photo album I hadn't seen in decades and inside was this photo of me beside our '72 Ford Gran Torino Sport. My dad is pretty reserved and I asked him why he would buy a bright red Torino as his first new car. "Everybody is young once" was his reply.

Our other car at the time was a '57 Triumph TR3.

Though we moved from Conway, SC to WV in the late 70s and perhaps my wife is right when she calls my compulsion to buy both a '72 Torino and a '57 TR3 nothing but runaway nostalgia, I know eventually I will own a copy of those car and live in the south again. I must say though, the cars my dad owned have had a lasting, lifelong impact on what I like.

And here Dad and I are under the hood of his MGA a decade ago. This car has been in our family for over 30 years.

Anyone else have a cool dad that influenced your automotive proclivities.

My Dad immigrated in 1980 to the States from England, first car he bought here was a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner and chopped the springs and put meaty tires on it all way round.

Growing up, I remember he had a Lancia Scorpion, Jaguar XJS, Mk1 Fiesta, Fiat 124 and X1/9, Alfa 164 and Suzuki Swift GT. Currently, he has a Caterham 7, another Swift and a Cooper S.

I'll have to find some pictures...

In my lifetime, my earliest memory was probably trying to see over the steering wheel in my Dad's Austin Healey 100-6. He sold that and his DD (87 Turbo Bird) at the same time and got a W124 300E. Its been fairly pedestrian cars since then, but all were still "cool" in some sense--Police package Crown Vic, SAAB, E34... At some point in there the E30 Cabriolet showed up, and that is still there.

BC, he had an MGB, Opel GT, Firebird, Impala, a Celica, and a police package Caprice in the 80's. Probably an odd guy for someone who started driving in the 60's to go from American to British to German to American to Japanese. The only thing that he really hasn't done is Italian and Korean (and Soviet Bloc).

He got his start from HIS dad (and his uncle), and they (grandpa and uncle Pete) got THEIR start from THEIR dad. My grandpa told my mom, when her mom passed, that every time he bought a car for the last 50 years of his life he'd get teary eyed at some point when he was in bed that night, because he wanted to call his dad and tell him about his new car.

My dad's first car was an MG TD, which was followed by a Triumph TR3. All of this was well before I was born, though. By the time I came along he was driving pickups pretty much exclusively.

This is not my dads Cherokee chief from the mid 70's, but I clearly remember bouncing around the back seat while dad was offroading on camping trips. I also remember him (all 6' 3", 315 lbs of him) sitting inside the engine compartment, butt on the inner fender, feet down by the subframe, wrenching on the top end - looked like it was swallowing him!

Mom, she bought herself a brand new 4 barrel firebird in 1976 when she graduated nursing college as a graduation present to herself. Again, this is not it, but this is very similar (From what Ive been told).

I say "From what Ive been told" because she traded it in for an AMC Eagle wagon in the early 80s when I was a toddler because "it was too hard to fit you and your brother, his carseat, an his stroller in the firebird"

Notice, she didnt mention a carseat for me (at 2 years old) - the lap belt held me in just fine ...remember, this was the early 80's lol

In '74 my Paw bought a '72 240Z that he kept for the next 30 years, I think that qualifies...

I wouldn't say "cool", but "different" certainly. He had 2 Austin A40s, a Ford Zephyr, a Vauxhall Viva HA, and a Standard-Triumph Estate before the Japanese invasion, then he switched to a series of Toyotas and Datsuns.

My mother was the QUEEN of impulsive car buys, but my dad was never into cars aside from fixing them when they broke. One night after a rough day at work, my mom was late and nowhere to be found. This was before cell phones and text messages, so we just figured she was working late and my dad, sister, and I ate dinner without her. We are sitting at the table when we hear something loud and angry coming in hot down the street. Much to my surprise, this vehicle slows down and pulls into our driveway.

We all go out to investigate further and see this big, black car in the driveway with 20 day plates, and my mom giggling in the driver's seat. She traded in her maroon Corsica impulsively for a Grand National after work. It was mint, and my first true 'holy E36 M3 cars are so great' moment. I felt like such a bad ass getting dropped off at middle school with my mom hammering the piss out of that car in front of the building, haha.

I wish she kept it, because I'd have bought it and loved it dearly for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, my mom is STILL vehicularly impulsive, and traded the GN in for a berkeleying Envoy. It wasn't even one of the nice ones either- it was one of the old 'Let's take an S10 Jimmy and put a bunch of fake wood and leather in it' models... I wanted to kill her, I was so upset and angry.

Growing up, we had Spitfires -- Mk III, Mk IV, 1500s and a Stag. I thought those were cool.

But then something had to balance out the kid hauler beige Ford Econoline van covered with vinyl daisies (would this now be hipster cool?) and the bug-eyed 2 door Matador.

Pretty much exactly like this image, including the color and vinyl roof.

My dad had an 84 BMW 733i with a 5 speed, That got traded in for a Mercedes 190e 16 valve. He still has a 53 Jag xk-120 OTS, and an 63 Alfa Spider. currently drives a 14 Acura Tl 6-speed. When I was looking for my first car he said buy something that will be worth something some day. That was a 67 Austin Healy 3000. He bought my mother a Euro-spec 84 Mercedes 280sl with a stick. So Yeah he had some cool cars.

57 T bird when I was born. Had to get rid of it because of kid #2 (me).

Two or three Morris Minor Estates while I was a kid.

Dad rallied a Peugeot Station wagon when we lived in PR, I thought that was kind of cool.

Datsun 240Z when they first came out. I drove that car in PR, Canada and Europe.

Mercedes 280 SL that they used to tour Europe.

One of Dad's friend in PR had a Porsche 904 that I thought was way cool and another had a Lotus Europa that has left a lust scar to this day.

I have no idea where I got the car bug from? If I had to guess, I would blame it on the lawnmower: My dad had the same relationship with our lawnmower in PR as the dad in "A Chrismas Story" had with the heating system in their house.

My dad never was a motorsports fan or even a "car guy", despite that he had a black 66 Mustang and what was considered a "dual-sport" motorbike in the 70's. I just remember it was black and Japanese and made my dad look way cooler than he acted. Soon after I came along it was a string of VW Microbus ownership until the Chrysler minivans sounded the deathnell for those in the late 80's. Interestingly enough, my mom had the cars I would want the most today - 72 240Z and 76 Capri. The Datsun came after I was born. Hats off mom!

Earliest memories include:

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air sedan in Jade Green with a 11:1cr de-stroked 327, Powerglide and Thrush side pipes on Ansen Sprints.

1969 Chevrolet Impala LS1/M22 that went to Indy for the NHRa Nats in 1970 with my brother Frank.

1967 GMC Suburban 6cyl/3 on the tree.

my dad has owned 6 Honda accords in a row. His cool cars were all before my time.

Dad, not so much - he grew up dirt-poor on a farm. Though I do remember about a POS Beetle he had.

Mom, otoh, bought a Buick Wildcat and a Corvair Monza Spyder Turbo brand-new. Sadly, both were long gone by the time I came around.

Edit: I almost for got this part...

Sometime around middle-school mom decided to get a project-car, and picked up a "little-old-lady/only-driven-to-church" '61 Chevy Belaire. It was a gold 4-door 6-cyl, so I was(foolishly, in hindsight) automatically disinterested. But she overhauled the engine in our garage, with a bit of help from a neighbor - I don't remember dad ever being a part of it - then drove the car occasionally for several years.

My father was not a car guy at all. he has appreciated my interests over the years however.

my daughters dad (me) has cool cars. my dad didn't own anything cool until I was out of the house.

Unfortunately, the old baby Bronco was sold before I was born. 351 Windsor, 4 on the floor, straight pipes and angry tires. I will have one one day.

I grew up in F150s and whatever cheap cast offs my mom bought, all the fun cars were long gone by my time.

My dad had a bugeye sprite when he graduated college. It was his daily driver for years. His stories of trying to get into it in the winter when everything was frozen used to confuse me when I was little because I had trouble comprehending why a car would not have exterior door handles.

After that he had a Fairlane with a 390 and a couple MG Midgets. For the past 20 years or so he has been into Corvettes.

My dad's not really a car guy, but I guess he's kind of a Mercury guy. He's owned a bunch of them. The only one that was remotely cool was an S-22 Comet, but by the time that he bought it, it was a $100 spare vehicle that fifth-grade-me was embarrassed to be seen in. It may have been a 1961, so it would have been especially ugly. He did buy a new Mazda 626 in 1981. Mom and I were pushing hard for him to get an Accord but he wanted that Mazda. It turned out to be one of the best cars that ever passed through our household and I wish I could find a nice one today.

When he and I go to car shows, he goes right to the Studebakers, though he never owned one. I think he just likes to say "First by far with a postwar car".

Both of my grandfathers had cool cars, but I don't think that it was intentional in either case. My mother's father bought a new 1967 Plymouth Belvedere II two door hardtop. I inherited it when I was in high school. It's the only car that I regret selling.

My father's father was not a car guy at all, but he told me a story about proving that his 1925 Buick could do 75 mph in 1927. They were advertised as "75hp, 75 mph". His friend said that it couldn't and he took the challenge. "I won twenty five bucks doing it!". He told me that it took three of his friends to come up with $25 to cover the bet. As far as I know, he never exceeded 45 mph again in his lifetime.

He also tells me that his father had the first car in West Haven Connecticut. It came in on the train and they had to assemble it on the platform. Then they had to read the owner's manual to figure out how to drive it. Later, my grandfather would take it to Savin Rock amusement park and give people a ride for a quarter. Most had never ridden in a car before.

In the late 60's, his youngest son bought a new Dart GT convertible and immediately went into the Air Force. My grandfather took over the car and the payments. I'm pretty sure that it was a big block car, and he said that kids always wanted him to light up the tires. He never did. He also told me that he only put the top down one time, just to make sure that it worked while it was still under warranty.

But my Great Grandfather might have been a badass car guy...

My grandfather on my dads side owned a dealership so dad had quite a few cars as a youth. He drove a Simca when I was born in the late 50's, 64 Mustang next, followed by a 70 Challenger, 77 Monza spyder clone, forget what was next but his last car before passing was a Saturn SC2.

My dad had a series of cool cars, the last of which were the only two I remember. A white 1964 Mustang convertible and a 289 v8 powered maroon 1966 Mustang notchback. The '66 was around until I was 14. I was dead set on getting that car once I was 16 but we moved out of the country and liquidated all the vehicles. Since then it's been pretty pedestrian stuff except for a brief stint with a 1969 Dodge A100 which I bought from him when it became too unreliable for a business vehicle.

I still think about that '66 Mustang, 25 years later. Some day I'll probably buy one in a fit of nostalgia. I never got to drive it but my brother regaled me with tales of how fast it was. In a sea of 80s blandness it seemed like a rocket ship.

My mom had a 76 firebird formula with a 400 when i was born. Fond memories of roasting my calf almost to the bone on the sidepipes getting out of the back seat at a big boy's once. Dad still has the 48 chevy fleetline 2 door fastback that he's been working on since the 70's.

My Dad had a '45 chevy 5 window deluxe, it was running a nova front clip and elcamino rear end IIRC, I have some old pics of me sitting in the stripped cab while he painted each body panel in the garage. Sold it right before I got my license.... It was stupid fast. I still remember driving around the block with no windshield in it, I think everyone has one of those memories.